Virginia · BLS May 2025

How much do judges, magistrate judges, and magistrates make in Virginia?

Judges, magistrate judges, and magistrates in Virginia earn a median of $104,000 a year ($50.00 an hour), about $6,402 a month after federal, state and FICA tax. Figure from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey. The survey counted 1,270 of these jobs in Virginia in May 2025.

Median pay · Virginia

$104,000A year, or $50 an hour.
Take-home a month$6,402After federal, state and FICA tax at 26.1%
Worth at national prices$102,864Prices here sit at 101.1 against 100
Against the nation32.5% belowNational median $153,990
What judges, magistrate judges, and magistrates earn in Virginia, May 2025
PercentileAnnualHourly
10th percentile1 in 10 earn less$62,180$30
25th percentile$68,940$33
MedianHalf earn more, half less$104,000$50
75th percentile$192,440$93
90th percentile1 in 10 earn more$213,830$103
MeanAll pay divided by all jobs$125,190$60

Wage survey · BLS May 2025

How we got this
  1. Median wage in VirginiaBLS OEWS May 2025. Half of the people in this job were paid more than this, half less.$104,000
  2. Median hourly wagePublished separately by BLS, not divided out of the annual figure.$50.00
  3. Take-home after federal, state and FICA tax$6,402 a month at an effective rate of 26.1%.$76,828 a year
  4. Worth at national average pricesPrices in Virginia sit at 101.1 against a national 100 (BEA, 2024).$102,864
  5. Against the national medianThe national median is $153,990.32.5% below
  6. Jobs countedA concentration of 2 against the nation's 1.00.1,270
What we assumed
  • Wages are BLS OEWS survey estimates for May 2025, not job postings or offers.
  • OEWS surveys wage and salary workers. The self-employed and business owners are outside it.
  • Take-home assumes one 2026 filer, filing single, taking the standard deduction, with no dependents, pre-tax retirement contributions or local income tax.
  • Regional price parities compare price levels between places in one year. They are not inflation, and they do not adjust for what a household actually buys.
Technical details

Method occupation-wage-v1Data bls-oews-2025-05-v1, us-tax-2026-v1, bea-rpp-2024-v1, census-acs5-2024-v1

What lands in the bank

Tax year 2026 · Interactive

Estimated on the median salary of $104,000 in Virginia, for a single filer taking the standard deduction in 2026. Explore other wage levels and filing statuses below.

$104,000
$60,000$215,000
Filing status:
Gross salary breakdown$104,000
Net 74%
Fed 14%
VA 5%
FICA 8%
Annual take-home$76,828After all taxes
Monthly deposit$6,402Estimated per month
Biweekly paycheck$2,955Every 2 weeks (26/yr)
Effective tax rate26.1%Total tax burden
Federal income tax$14,050 / yr
Virginia state income tax$5,166 / yr
FICA (Social Security & Medicare)$7,956 / yr

Run the numbers on your own pay

Same U.S. tax tables as the rest of the site. Change the salary, state, or filing status.

What $104,000 is worth in Virginia

Prices in Virginia sit at 101.1 against a national average of 100, so $104,000 earned here buys what $102,864 buys at national average prices.

  • Rents. 106.8 against 100, the component that moves most between states.
  • Against local households. The median household in Virginia takes in $93,170, so this occupation's median is 1.12 times that, on one income.
  • How common the job is here. 100% more concentrated in Virginia than in the country as a whole.

Compare two places properly →

Reading the numbers

What stands out for judges, magistrate judges, and magistrates in Virginia

Judges, magistrate judges, and magistrates hold 2 times the share of jobs in Virginia that they hold nationally, with 1,270 counted.

The gap between the ends is wide: the 90th percentile ($213,830) is 3.4 times the 10th ($62,180). The survey does not say who sits where in that range. It records no experience, shift or employer.

The average here is $125,190, well above the median of $104,000. A smaller group of high earners lifts the average, so the median is the better guide to what most judges, magistrate judges, and magistrates in Virginia are paid.

The median in Virginia is 32.5% below the national median of $153,990.

Common questions

Judges, Magistrate Judges, and Magistrates pay in Virginia, answered

How much do judges, magistrate judges, and magistrates make in Virginia?

The median wage for judges, magistrate judges, and magistrates in Virginia is $104,000 a year, or $50.00 an hour.

Half earn more than that and half earn less. The figure comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics occupational wage survey for May 2025.

What is the average Judges, Magistrate Judges, and Magistrates salary in Virginia?

BLS’s mean (average) wage for judges, magistrate judges, and magistrates in Virginia is $125,190 a year. The median is $104,000.

The mean sits higher when a smaller group of high earners pulls the average up. For a typical paycheck, the median is the better middle.

What is the hourly pay for judges, magistrate judges, and magistrates in Virginia?

The median hourly wage is $50.00. At a full-time year that lines up with about $104,000 a year.

BLS May 2025; hourly and annual figures come from the same survey.

What is the starting salary for judges, magistrate judges, and magistrates in Virginia?

BLS does not publish starting pay. The closest figure it does publish is the low end of the range: in Virginia, the lowest-paid 10% of judges, magistrate judges, and magistrates earn under $62,180 a year and a quarter earn under $68,940 ($29.89 and $33.14 an hour).

New hires often start somewhere in that band, but the May 2025 survey does not record experience, so read it as a floor to compare an offer against rather than a typical first salary.

What is the salary range for judges, magistrate judges, and magistrates in Virginia?

The overall salary range for judges, magistrate judges, and magistrates in Virginia spans from $62,180 for the bottom 10% to $213,830 for top earners.

The middle 50% earn between $68,940 and $192,440 a year, with the overall median at $104,000.

What is the take-home pay for judges, magistrate judges, and magistrates in Virginia?

On the median wage of $104,000, a single filer taking the 2026 standard deduction keeps an estimated $76,828 a year, or roughly $6,402 a month.

That is after federal, state and FICA tax, an effective rate of 26.1%.

Virginia takes $5,166 of it in state income tax.

How much does judges, magistrate judges, and magistrates make a month in Virginia?

On the median annual salary of $104,000, estimated take-home pay is roughly $6,402 a month after federal, state, and FICA taxes.

For workers paid on a standard biweekly schedule (26 pay periods per year), each paycheck is approximately $2,955 net.

Do judges, magistrate judges, and magistrates earn more in Virginia than in the rest of the country?

No. The median in Virginia is 32.5% below the national median of $153,990.

Nominal pay is only half the comparison: prices in Virginia sit at 101.1 against a national 100, so the gap in what the money buys is different from the gap in the salary.

Is $104,000 a good salary in Virginia?

It is 1.12 times the median household income of $93,170. A household often has more than one earner, so a single salary at this level goes further than the ratio alone suggests.

Prices in Virginia run at 101.1 against a national average of 100, with rents at 106.8, so $104,000 here buys about what $102,864 buys at national average prices.

What do the highest-paid judges, magistrate judges, and magistrates earn in Virginia?

The top tenth earn $213,830 a year or more. The 10th-percentile wage is $62,180.

Experience, specialty, employer and the part of Virginia someone works in all move a wage inside that range; the survey reports the spread, not the reason for it.

How many judges, magistrate judges, and magistrates are there in Virginia?

The survey counted 1,270 of these jobs in Virginia for May 2025.

That makes the occupation 100% more concentrated here than in the country as a whole. It counts wage and salary jobs, so the self-employed are outside it.

Sources

Where this data comes from

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